Turmoil resumes at UT over admissions, records requests

FILE - In this July 10, 2013, file photo, Regent Wallace Hall, of Dallas, takes part in a University of Texas Regents meeting in Austin, Texas. A Texas House panel began drafting articles of impeachment against embattled University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall on Wednesday May 21, 2014, just as Gov. Rick Perry issued one of his strongest statements yet supporting the Dallas businessman.. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Photo: Eric Gay, STF

AUSTIN - The University of Texas System was a battleground over the summer as a legislative panel voted to censure a divisive regent, and President William Powers agreed under pressure to resign next year. The selection of a widely respected new system chancellor, Adm. William McRaven, added to hopes that the controversy might be winding down.

Now there are signs that the turmoil may be resuming.

University officials confirmed this week that regent Wallace Hall's public records requests, a key issue in the legislative hearings that led to his censure, had continued unabated. And in an Oct. 16 letter to regents Chair Paul Foster, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, expressed dismay that Hall had asked to examine certain unspecified, "potentially confidential" documents.

"Nothing has changed. Mr. Hall's behavior remains the same," said state Rep. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat and co-chair of the panel that voted to censure Hall in August. "I'm not sure what exactly we can do until we convene again, but I hope there are some things that we can do that will have a greater impact on Mr. Hall's behavior."

If something doesn't change soon, lawmakers say they'll be forced to take action against Hall or the entire board of regents during the 2015 legislative session.

Probe of Powers' UT

For nearly a year before his censure, the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations looked into the lengthy, personal investigation Hall had undertaken into UT-Austin under Powers. Powers' supporters called the probe a witch hunt to oust the president. They said Hall bullied staff, released confidential student information and sullied the school's reputation in the process.

Hall has said he was acting on good information that wrongdoing was rampant in Powers' administration. Lawmakers and other powerful people, he said, wielded undue influence over who was admitted to UT-Austin.

Hall was partially vindicated on this last point when it was revealed that legislators had been recommending students for admission, appealing directly to Powers' office rather than following the usual process.

A preliminary investigation found no evidence of punishable wrongdoing. But additional information provided to system officials reignited concerns over UT-Austin's admissions practices and led the regents to hire corporate investigations firm Kroll Associates to undertake a deeper, independent inquiry.

Lawmakers hoped the censure and the launch of the independent probe would tamp down Hall's personal investigations, but they haven't.

"We already learned what happens when we place admissions files in the hands of the wrong people," Martinez Fischer said. "There is supposed to be an independent investigation occurring. There shouldn't be anybody else asking to review files."

He said the regents' decision not to involve lawmakers directly in the admissions probe was evidence that "there still remains a culture of recalcitrance at the system."

'Harassment,' many say

State Rep. Lyle Larson, a San Antonio Republican who, along with Martinez Fischer, was charged with monitoring Hall's behavior after the censure, said the decision also worried him. In a letter to the regents in mid-September, Larson said he wanted assurances the admissions probe "does not become a continuation of what many believe to be harassment of UT Austin President Bill Powers."

In an interview, Larson said regents should be included on Kroll's interview list since they had made verbal admissions recommendations outside of the proscribed processes. He declined to identify regents he believes have done this.

"It's come to light that from the system's staff and others that traditionally several of the regents have asked for special consideration for kids," Larson said. "I want to make sure that if they're going to do a witch hunt and continue to vilify others, they were included on that list."

Lawmakers have a number of tools they can use to pressure the system, they said, including tweaking state law to more clearly define legislative oversight over boards of regents or hammering out mechanisms to protect university presidents from politically motivated attacks.

"One of the concepts we talked about is a clearer orientation for the regents so they understand what their role is and what the policy and guidelines are," Larson added. "And once they stray out of it that they'd be subject to some kind of action."

He added, "There's got to be a process that a person can be removed" other than impeachment.

"It's unfortunate that we may have to do that because we're not here to micromanage people," said Alvarado, who added she hopes the entire House - not just her special panel - will be involved in such legislation.

"We did not put ourselves in this position. I think Mr. Hall has been the driver behind this and it's been his actions that will cause us to take more significant action."

Grand jury to come

In September, the Travis County District Attorney's Office signaled it would soon empanel a grand jury to look into the student information release and whether Hall violated federal privacy laws.

The special House panel can always reopen Hall's impeachment proceedings.

Alvarado's co-chair, state Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, said the system and its incoming chancellor, McRaven, should be given every chance to fix the issue before lawmakers step in.

"The board of regents and the chancellor and the president, they are the authorities," said Flynn. "I want to give them the opportunity to be able to conduct and oversee the responsibilities over the University of Texas."

If system officials don't take steps soon, however, Martinez Fischer said legislators will have to act.

"The issue as it relates to Wallace Hall and the transparency committee is far from over," he said.